1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to papermaking machines, and, more particularly, to press fabrics used in papermaking machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the papermaking process a fibrous slurry is formed and deposited onto a moving forming fabric in a forming section of a papermaking machine. A significant amount of water is drained from the slurry through the forming fabric, leaving the fibrous web on a surface of the forming fabric. The formed fibrous web passes from the forming section to a press section, which may include press nips or press belts. The fibrous web passes through the pressing section as compressive forces squeeze water from the web. The fibrous web proceeds to a drying section that may include one or more rotatable dryer drums or cylinders, such as Yankee dryers. The formed web may travel through a serpentine path sequentially around a series of drums, which serve to further drive the web into paper or fiberboard product.
The fabrics used in the forming, press and dryer sections all take the form of endless loops that are utilized by the papermaking machine and function in a manner that facilitates the conveyance of the web through its change from a slurry to a fibrous sheet.
Press fabrics are utilized in an endless belt form because a forming fibrous web is susceptible to marking in the press section and any non-uniformity in the press fabric may result in a marking on the paper. That is why it is important in the seaming region of a press fabric that the seam perform as the rest of the fabric or as closely thereto as possible. One method of seaming the belts together is the use of seaming loops that are formed in the machine direction yarns of the fabric. The seam is closed by bringing the two ends of the press fabric together by interdigitating the seaming loops at the ends of the fabric, and by directing a pin or pintel through the passage defined by the interdigitated seaming loops to thereby lock the ends of the fabric together.
What is needed in the art is a method of facilitating an accurate aligning of the ends of the fabric as well as facilitate the seaming thereof.